phila*craft

30 May 2008

habitats

Fritz Haeg's work for the Whitney Biennial and fellow parent Kim Sole's book Photographing Home have me thinking about native habitats. This is the last weekend of the Biennial--if you're in NYC, pop by the Whitney to see the eagle's nest over the entrance and peek down at the other "Animal Estates" installed in the sculpture garden that fronts the museum.

28 May 2008

buzz

the Honeycomb Henley

I tweaked Norah Gaughan's pattern from Knitting Nature to shorten the sleeves and by substituting Berroco Pure Merino. I started the sleeve cap shaping at fifteen inches rather than eighteen. Using "combination seaming" (invisible at ribbing and body sides and backstitch for the set-in sleeves and sleeve sides) kept the finishing sane. This was a fun knit. The yarn is smooth and springy and the texture stitch hummed along.

27 May 2008

so fine

a sewing kit

I never win anything, so until this arrived from elsie marley I didn't really believe my good luck having my name picked for Meg's 100th post contest. Isn't it unbelievably clever? And very well made and, well, encouraging. I will fix it myself, thanks.

23 May 2008

The Log Cabin Moderne blanket from the first Mason-Dixon Knitting book has been in my project queue for a few years, so I was really pleased when my friend Denise told me she was going to make one and invited me to help her pick out yarn (Blue Sky worsted cotton from loop). Here it is in glorious progress. Denise works on it at meetings and concerts and little league games contentedly unpicking and ripping (or not as she pleases) when heated exchanges or beautiful passages or wild pitches make her fingers skip a stitch. She's my icon of zen knitting.

20 May 2008

undulate

the LMKG Chevron Scarf

I had the black and brights Koigu in my stash for almost twenty years and picked out the second colorway at loop because it seemed to be the blah to my stashed yarn's juicy (cf. a psychedelic color theory primer). I ended up with 100 inches of knitting before I realized I was supposed to stop at 77 3/4 inches and I still have enough yarn for a wee something that will appear in here.

05 May 2008

sensational, lone, toe-up purlwalker

I really have to learn how to do that two-socks-at-a-time technique because this one has been done for months. Using Charlene Schurch's instructions in Sensational Knitted Socks, I adapted Grumperina's Jaywalkers for toe-up knitting. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Purl custom colors. I picked up the background fabric at spool.